Triple science award at gcse and gpa

silvercar

melancholly wrote: »

well they let me in for science with 2 maths a levels and 2 sciences....... they need high grades to it's best to take subjects you enjoy and that you'll do well in. swapping history for maths (or vice versa) and dropping a grade will do much more harm than good (and i'm honestly not sure it would do any good).

Very, very true.

Speak to admissions officers if you doubt it. Everything is exam results focussed these days. Apart from avoiding weak courses like media studies and non-theoretical courses like Art, it is best to take the subjects that will give you the highest grades.

Voyager2002

glowgirl wrote: »

Thank you everyone, dd hasnt had a chance yet to read this thread but I have given her an idea of whats been said, yesterday at college she found out that certain students in her year have been marked out as Oxbridge applicants and will receive some sort of help or training (not sure what) from January, dd is not one of these students and neither is her friend who has a higher gpa than her, however, dd is determined she will apply to Cambridge with or without the help/support of her college (its quite common for us to do things our own way) and she also has other uni's in mind but Cambridge is number one for her.

Fine: but make sure she doesn't imagine that its Cambridge or nothing: there are some very good English departments at other universities.

melancholly

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Fine: but make sure she doesn't imagine that its Cambridge or nothing: there are some very good English departments at other universities.

and indeed many people would view Oxford as better for humanities. the reality is that there are more bright, capable students than places at Cambridge and there will always be plenty of deserving students who don't get in so it's never wise to put all eggs in one basket (although to be fair to glowgirl, this doesn't look like one of those cases and Oxbridge - and Durham - applications do make things more confusing than other unis with the whole college system).

kayr_2

melancholly wrote: »

well they let me in for science with 2 maths a levels and 2 sciences....... they need high grades to it's best to take subjects you enjoy and that you'll do well in. swapping history for maths (or vice versa) and dropping a grade will do much more harm than good (and i'm honestly not sure it would do any good).

Absolutely. Cambridge are obsessed with UMS scores etc but with some justification as they have found they predict success at degree level - see this: http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/special/20110406/multiple-regression-study.pdf but only if you like statistics! And as for being well rounded/having outside interests how's this for a comment:
Potential student: What about extra curricular activities?
Cambridge fellow: If you play sport, that is very nice for you, but we are only interested in your mind.
I found that refreshingly honest and laughed a lot but was a bit surprised.

A "typical" Cambridge student will get at least around 6-7 A*s and the rest As at GCSE, an average of 90+ UMS at AS (more likely mid 90s) and 2-3 A*s at A2. As melancholly says, for physical science they positively encourage double maths and 2 sciences. Doing a mixture of Arts and Sciences is OK as long as you get top scores in the 3 main subjects but I'm sure they wouldn't want an English student to take a science A level. That's not what Trinity are saying in that document. It's tough to get in but there are lots of other good universities.
Your daughter will find that if she has questions and emails various admissions tutors they will give her very frank and helpful answers. They are amazingly open about the admissions process. Good luck!

melancholly

kayr wrote: »

As melancholly says, for physical science they positively encourage double maths and 2 sciences.

although i did biological sciences and they didn't hold it against me there... since everyone enters the natural sciences tripos and is therefore forced to do a broader range of science subjects than at most other unis, i honestly think it would be harder to keep up with only once science. the more i've thought about it, the more i think dropping a science for a humanities subject would only serve to harm an application.

melancholly

kayr wrote: »

Absolutely. Cambridge are obsessed with UMS scores etc but with some justification as they have found they predict success at degree level - see this: http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/special/20110406/multiple-regression-study.pdf but only if you like statistics!

probably should actually admit that i've read that before (yes - i do like statistics, but multiple regression isn't too bad )

brook2jack

What Oxbridge appear to look for is thekind of enquiring mind that will be stimulated by that kind of teaching. Rather than worry about gcse grades which are suboptimal your daughter could think about doing a qualification like an epq (extended project qualification). She chooses the subject of a dissertation, writes it up and gives a presentation. It can be on anything but if mentioned on a personal statement shows you have the independant study skills and ,if in an interesting English based subject, may give her something to discuss at interview .

It takes 90 to 120 hours depending on which board you sit and is a stand alone qualification. Many students do the bulk of it in the summer holidays between as and A2. Not all schools offer it but it's worth asking. Here's a link to AQA but edexcel do one as well ,I believe.http://www.aqa.org.uk/qualifications/projects/extended-project-epq.php